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Y NOT FESTIVAL CUT SHORT!

Oh, British weather. You are a foul and unpredictable beast. Unfortunately the erratic weather here in the UK has claimed another victim and robbed thousands of people of an amazing weekend. Derbyshire’s annual Y Not festival has taken place this past weekend and it has had nothing but trouble since the start, culminating in its third and final day, which is today, being completely cancelled. Along with this, multiple bands and artists that were billed to play have had to cancel, including Friday nights headliners The Vaccines. With multiple acts not being able to play in the conditions and set times being moved around and held back, the final nail in the coffin has come today as everybody that has attended has had to leave a day early, missing out on bands like The Happy Mondays, Twin Atlantic, Cabbage, & headliners Two Door Cinema Club. This is an awful turn of events for one of the UKs and an absolute nightmare for attendees and of course organisers as well.

A festival spokesperson sent us an official statement and in it, they had this to say about the matter:

“Unfortunately we’ve had to take the difficult decision to cancel Sunday due to the adverse weather conditions across the weekend, after consulting all the relevant authorities. The safety of our guests, performers, and crew is our primary concern and the potential risk was too severe for Sunday to go ahead. We are very sorry for the disappointment and disruption caused to everyone who was looking forward to the final day of the festival. We understand that people will have questions about refunds. We will be giving all our guests further information about this over the coming days.”

Festival goers have taken to social media in droves to express their displeasure at the cancellation as well as the festival in general which has been said to have had poor security and massive queues for getting in or out. This, amongst other complaints when mixed with the consistently poor weather since the beginning have made it an unenjoyable experience, and a weekend in the mud and the rain waiting to see your favourite artist, only to find they’re not going to play must be extremely frustrating. Here at Mojo20 we have friends and colleagues DJing at the festival and also working in the organisation process, and I can wholeheartedly sympathise with them and know how terribly saddened they will be by the outcome. It’s not an easy job at all to run a festival of this magnitude and when the weather turns on you, there is little you can do. Now we’ve all heard and seen the classic British festival, such as Glastonbury, wading through mud and braving the elements, but Y Not have made a brave decision in the interest of safety and have called time on the event, and this, although extremely inconvenient, may be the most important decision they have made and the correct one too. My sympathy is indeed with the staff and all companies or performers involved. Even more so, my sympathy is with those that paid money, made arrangements and looked forward to an incredible weekend. Such a shame.

For all information on Y Not festival, refunds, travel rearrangements and more, keep in touch with their Twitter page for updates as they arrive.